|
Tariku Bekele, Kipchoge Lead 5000m Qualifying as All 3 Americans Advance By David Monti (c) 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved *Watch the replay of the 5000m heats on Demand on WCSN (Day 6 Evening session)
OSAKA
(30-Aug) -- Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia, the younger brother of Kenenisa,
and Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, won their respective heats of the 5000m as
the 11th IAAF World Championships finished its sixth day at Nagai
Stadium.
Bekele recorded an improbably slow time of 13:46.42 to
win his heat off of a very slow initial pace. Indeed, there was such a
large group of athletes still together at the bell that Algeria's
Khoudir Aggoune, Kenya's Isaac Songok and Joseph Ebuya, and Morocco's
Ahmed Baday were unable to advance to Sunday's final despite finishing
within two seconds of Bekele. Only the top five from each heat
automatically qualified for the final.
"I was worried about the
weather," Bekele said in a statement released by the Ethiopian
Athletics Federation. "It was very difficult out there and I hope to do
well in the final."
Jesús España of Spain, Bernard Lagat of the
USA, Hicham Bellani of Morocco, and Moses Kipsiro of Uganda were the
other qualifiers from the first heat. Lagat won the gold medal in the
1500m last night. He chose to celebrate with an ice bath and a pizza
before getting to bed to rest up for tonight's race. The slow pace
definitely saved him precious energy.
Kipchoge won the second
race in 13:33.37, so all the time qualifiers came from the second heat.
It was American Matt Tegenkamp who broke the race open by picking up
the pace with two laps to go, banging out a 60.5 second circuit. At
the bell, five men were away: Kipchoge, Tegenkamp, Abreham Cherkos
Feleke of Ethiopia, Craig Mottram of Australia and Adam Goucher of the
United States. Kipchoge and Cherkos essentially finished together,
with Tegenkamp fewer than two seconds back, qualifying easily.
"It
was nice to get out and run," said Tegenkamp of his decision to take
the lead with two laps to go. "I got perfect positioning."
Mottram
eased up before the line, assured of a qualifying spot, but Goucher had
to continue to dig to the finish line. He lost concentration before
the bell and momentarily thought he was about to finish the race a lap
early.
"I don't know the hell my problem was," said a frustrated
Goucher who was passed by three rivals in the last 200m. Tegenkamp was
quick to remind his teammate that they had both made the final. With
Lagat advancing from the first heat, the United States put three men in
the 5000m final for the first time in the history of these
championships.
"It's about time," said Tegenkamp with pride in his voice.
As for Mottram, the bronze medalist from Helsinki, he called his heat "a step in the right direction."
Defending
champion Benjamin Limo of Kenya finished seventh and advanced on time.
Ethiopia's Sileshi Sihine decided not to run as he was still feeling
fatigued from Monday's 10,000m final where he earned the silver medal.
|
Cross Country Spikes 10% off (including the New Nike Forever)
Train Smarter!!!
Injured?
Running & Track and Field Posters
Unbelievable
interest ING Orange Savings Account Sponsor of the NYC Marathon
5 Minute Process to Open an Account No Minimum Deposit
|
|